When to Plant Basil in Moreno Valley, CA

The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of making a decision about when you can plant basil is to examine the USDA zone info for Moreno Valley.


Planting Calendar for Basil

Frost tolerance for basil: Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant: After the last frost.

It's probably not a good idea to plant basil until after all chance of frost has passed because they are not cold tolerant.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant basil
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant basil
Probably not a good time to plant basil

The earliest that you can plant basil in Moreno Valley is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant basil and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your basil may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your basil indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Moreno Valley the average date of last frost happens on February 15. You can expect an average low temperature of 25°F in the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Moreno Valley and it will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Moreno Valley you get surprised by a frost after February 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your basil in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Moreno Valley

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)December 15
Lowest Expected Low25°F
Highest Expected Low30°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 30°F.

Plants to Grow in Moreno Valley

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Moreno Valley.